Waking up after a 36-hour Vision Quest during our Wilderness Leadership Trail in Norway.
– Karin Oeseburg
Early October 2021 Pieter and I travel to Oslo to meet Thoralf, our amazing nature guide, and facilitate a conscious bunch of people on a life changing journey together. It has been a while since I was ‘out there’. My heart sings with joy and anticipation, I feel privileged and grateful.
The conditions are harsh. Harsher than I have experienced before on a trail. And yet the spirits of the group are high. I am amazed and grateful of how well the group copes with the challenging circumstances. “Nature is the great equalizer”, one participant mentions afterwards. And yes, I completely understand what he means. Nature treats us all the same. More superficial differences between us fall away and we connect on a deeper, more essential level with each other and with ourselves.
It’s been raining since we started our trail. For me the rain has a cleansing effect. It washes away my thoughts and worries, fears and doubts. With every step deeper into the forest I feel more present and more alive. I feel powerful, light, and free. The scenery is astonishingly beautiful. It is as if we are walking through the land of elf, like in Lord of the Rings, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a troll rolled down the hill any moment. The ground and rocks are covered with green mosses, we are surrounded by tall trees, and wade through fields of blueberries ready to be picked as we walk along. And whilst I need to be careful where to place my feet, not to slip or to soak them in the little pools covered with moss and invisible to the eye, I experience nature with all my senses. Wow! I breath in the clean air, feel the freshness on my skin, hear the wind playing with the leaves of the trees (each tree has a distinct signature tune) and the sound of little waterfalls literally everywhere.
After two days of hiking, we arrive at a serene spot close to a beautiful lake. This is where we will stay for the next 36 hours, this is the place where we will spend our Vision Quest. We all prepare our ‘camp’ sites, building our tarps on a place of our own choosing. It’s comforting to know that the others are close, and yet I am fully aware that we embark on a very personal and individual journey. After dinner, sitting around the campfire, we set our intentions for the quest and off we go.
A thick mist hangs over the lake. Waterdrops fall from the trees. The rhythm of the sound creates a soothing symphony and beautiful ripples in the lake before me. The drops are released when they are filled up and ready to go. Just like my thoughts come and go. The cracking sound is very audible. Between two drops there is complete silence. In me and around me.
My experience of time has changed completely. When walking I still had an idea of time, let it be chopped in chunks of morning, afternoon, evening, night. During the Vision Quest the notion of time disappears even more. My mind tries to outsmart me, but with the sun hiding by the mist it is just impossible to figure out what time it is. There is no other option than to let go and surrender in the now. A remarkable void in which suddenly all kinds of insights and realisations appear. I let go of old wounds and limiting beliefs. And in the nothingness that follows, I get access to a new kind of knowing, a clarity of mind and creative thoughts how to manifest my future path.
Waking up after my second night I walk to the lakeside, a little path through the forest – my campsite a bit more uphill. When I arrive at the shore my heart bursts open with energy. The view is literally breath-taking. The sun has come out and the lake offers a sense of clarity and freshness. I could stay here forever, yet I become aware of my curiosity about the experiences of my fellow trail mates.
At our breakfast gathering around the fire, we listen to each other’s experiences and stories. I am really touched. Not just because of the transformational shifts all of us went through and the clarity of the steps that lie ahead for each of us. More even because of the magic we feel now we connect to one another from this new place within. Looking forward and feeling lucky going ‘out there’ again this fall twice!